Welcome Committee

[sumarusfinest]

There's been so many fresh faces to the Nexus recently, and more than a few of them have been children. Questions about finding a way home, about trying to decide if they want to go home. People wondering what to do now...

There are a few tables set out this morning in the Plaza in front of a small cafe loaded with several caraffes of coffee, breakfast pastries from more than a few different worlds and cultures, and a large pan of eggs and sausage kept warm over a chafing dish. On either end of the table are disposable plates, cups, and cutlery as well as a few welcome pamphlets in a small container. Along the front of the tables is a hand made banner.

"Meet and Greet"

Manning the tables is Katsuya Suou, red apron on and a cup of coffee in hand. He looks far too cheerful for how early in the morning it is.

"Right then, is anyone hungry? Have any questions about the nexus?"


((OOC: Feel free to mingle and threadjump in this thread. I'm trying to get people who have yet to meet to interact, so do not feel obligated to only reply to me!))

Comments

[auspex_caelo]

He's never tried the coffee, before, that's the thing. He's taking a risk with it, and while she's pouring hers he'll fill the rest of his cup with milk. (The Nexus is blessedly free of Nords to make fun of the tribune when he's being careful.)

"You're quite welcome." He gives her a thoughtful, sidelong look as he puts the milk back. "I don't believe we've met - Stratos Caelus, tribune of the Imperial Legion."

[morbidmausoleum]

Depending on how strong it is and how long ago it was made, that might be an entirely justifiable safety measure on his part. (Lord knows she's had coffee before where the only way to save it was to smother the actual coffee in milk and sugar.)

"I'm pretty sure I'd remember if we had," she agrees with a small smile. And, since a handshake might be a bit problematic while they're both still trying to make their coffee, she dips into a brief curtsy. "Dinah Wherever. Nice to meet you, Tribune."

[auspex_caelo]

"Dinah... Wherever?" he echoes with surprised amusement (even though he has no business being amused when he takes a place called Elsweyr seriously). Regardless, he bows his head politely. "The pleasure is mine. Are you a regular visitor to the Nexus, or one of the newer arrivals?"

Or, perhaps, an unwilling resident. He thinks he'll find out either way.

[morbidmausoleum]

Honestly, she's used to it; most people back home consider her name pretty odd too. He's not even the first one to be amused.

"One of the newer arrivals," she answers. "I first stumbled onto a door leading here a couple months ago, but I haven't been able to get back and actually explore much until today."

[auspex_caelo]

"Fortunate timing, then," he says, nodding toward the buffet. "The Legion has a small checkpoint beside our doorway - little more than a desk and a banner, but it's sufficient to offer assistance to citizens in the plaza. And guard the border, of course."

He gestures toward a quiet table. "May I ask what sort of world you hail from? Many people here seem to come from a version of Earth, though I know little about the place myself."

[morbidmausoleum]

"I know, right?" She can't help but grin. In this case, at least, her timing was flawless.

"I'm from a version of Earth myself - Massachusetts, United States, to be specific, in the year 2015." She has no problem heading toward the table he indicated, coffee in hand. There seems to be plenty of food, so she's not fussed about potentially missing out.

[auspex_caelo]

Since he's in the lead anyway, he pulls out a chair to offer her before sitting down himself. The United States is a country he's heard of before: hopefully that means he can assume her culture is close to that of other Earth people he's met. (One of whom is Jim Kirk, of course...)

"Massachusetts," he echoes, careful with his pronunciation. Never mind that it comes out sounding a little funny in his accent anyway. "A city, I take it? For myself, I'm originally from a city called Bruma in the Empire of Tamriel."

[morbidmausoleum]

She murmurs her thanks as she takes the offered seat. Given that plenty of Americans can't pronounce it either, or spell it for that matter, she's not about to give him any grief for his attempt.

"A state," she corrects gently. "So more like a province than a city." She half-wonders if they even have those in the Empire of Tamriel. You'd think, given how big empires tend to be, but who even knows? "I've never heard of Tamriel before; what's it like?"

[auspex_caelo]

Well then. He should have guessed, but it's difficult for him to really appreciate how large anything outside his own country is.

"Ah, I see." There's a brief hint of a smile. This much he'll acknowledge consciously: "I'm still quite unused to speaking of other nations large enough to be so divided." The Dominion doesn't count, of course. "You'll understand that it's difficult to sum up the known world, but on the whole I think it's a beautiful place, home to all manner of different races and their traditions. All of whom are welcome as Imperial citizens, of course."

He strokes his chin thoughtfully - what on Nirn is worth pointing out as different? "Hmm. From what I understand, we have far less emphasis on electrical gadgetry than Earth. Whereas, of course, magic is relatively commonplace on Tamriel."

[morbidmausoleum]

She's not about to judge; people from her own world have that problem sometimes too. (The example that comes to mind involves someone from England finding it mind-boggling how huge the US is.)

"Ah, yeah, magic's not too common - least not on my version of Earth." Actually, aside from Edaniel casting a spell every now and again, she isn't sure she'd ever seen real magic before she started hopping around the multiverse. But something else about his description caught her attention.

"You mentioned other races. Do you mean like... elves, dwarves, halflings, that kind of thing?"

[auspex_caelo]

"I haven't heard of halflings, and the dwarves vanished centuries ago, but yes, of course. We have several races of elf - including orcs, though they dislike acknowledging that. To say nothing of the Khajiit and Argonians - cat and lizard folk." He'd call them by their proper names if any were present, but he can get away with it here and more to the point, she wouldn't understand otherwise.

[morbidmausoleum]

The specifics would be lost on her for sure, but she gets the gist. Even the idea of orcs also being elves doesn't throw her for too much of a loop - neither exist outside fantasy stories in her world, but in those stories the idea that orcs somehow or other came from elves, or were elves, isn't entirely unheard of.

"Oh, halflings are-" She gestures, indicating a height somewhere near her own elbow. "Little people, hairy-footed, shy of humans. But they only exist in stories, where I'm from." But she doesn't give him long to digest that, because she has questions of her own. "You said they vanished- how'd that happen?"